Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-08-01

natured congiomerate gathered from . "A r.,4.
of the country. 1t cares len for apposl, ssI,cs,s
than an eastern crowd, and the man with h,s
pants in his boots, a broad sonbrero hat upou
his head, and red shirt sleeves sticking OUT
side Of the arm holes Of his vest does not feel
out Of place by the young swell in dude like
dress who pushes his way along the street
beside him. There are plenty Of well dressed
men here, and plenty who apparently care
nothing for dress You see ON the same
street the cowboy like, sombrero hated
figure Looping along OH his raw boned, wiry
mustang and the young Bostonian, who is
here loaning money on real estate, riding his
light buggy behind high stopper, going side
by side, and Kansas City has some as fine
horses as you will find anywhere. There are
plenty of poor horses, too, and q most In
miliar figure is the cantering rider who rocks
through the city with his pantaloons in his
boots, a big spur on his heel and no martin
gale to his bride to keep his horses head in
rein. -.
Rents are high in Kansas City, and lead
ing business man who came here from
Quincy, Ills, tells me that q house which
would cost him S25 month there will rent
here from $50 to SIS a month, and that it is
hard to get one at that Business blocks rent
we'll, and as an instance I was shown one
very fine stone building of about five stories
which cost $3.50 900 to build, and the rents of
which aggregate $4,000 year.
One Of the most extraordinary cases OF
high rent being offered occurred in respect to
the GOx12O feet Of ground Of which spoke in
my last letter as belonging to an independent
old lady who would not sell it to the New
York Life Insurance company. This COM
pany bad q whole block of ground with the
exception Of this piece, and it wanted this to
complete the site for q ten story building
which they propose to erect, costing about
100000. They offered her many times its
value, one proposition being over $24,O Goo
She refused. They then offered to pay her
such rental for fifty years lease that the
aggregage rent in this time would amount to
Sl.OOO,OOO, or $4,000 a year. She refused
this also, and the company have begun their
foundations 20 build around her. It is said
she wants 100000 for the property, and
whether she will get it remains to be seen.
This independent old lady's name is Miss or
Mrs. March. She comes, am told, from the
south, and is said to never sell any thing. She
owns lands in Kentucky which she has had
FOR years, and she is as bright a business
woman as lives west OF the Mississippi river
In the meantime her property is covered with
several small one and two story business
blocks, and it probably pays her several
thousand dollars year.
80
There are a great many very rich men in
Kansas City," said one of its leading bankers
to me today. THE town has a number of
millionaires and it has many men who are
worth between $1,000 and $500, 900. 1t is
true that eastern capitalists have invested
largely here, and l know of a half dozc,
Boston men each of whom owns several
millions Of dollars worth of our propertv.
The street cars of the city are entirely owned
by eastern men, and the city stands in tho
same condition as Chicago did just after tho
IRE. Eastern men had SO much invested thct
they had to make the city go. They put
niore to their investments and it was their ef-
forts largely that built Chicago. It is the
same here. There is so much capital involved
that the town has to 60 OH. The Atchisop.
Topeka and Santa Fe railroad men also are
largely interested in Kansas City, and there
will be no lack Of push to keep it going. We
have, however, us I said, q great deal of
money OF our own, and the rise in values has
made many men wealthy. Many farmers
shout the city owned farms Of from 100 tn
900 and 800 acres. The growth of t..oc-,
and the laying out Of such an area of lots has
made this land worth $1,000, $4,000, 5000
and even $4,000 an acre, and the farmers
Lave awakened to find themselves rich. Then
the jumps upward i'll real estate have been so
inside of the city that some men
have made great deal Not long ago
property on certain street, near a certain
point, jumped upwards $500 front foot be-
tween and o'clock p. m. The jump camo
from the fact that q hotel to cost $75O, 900 had
been located there, and one of my friends
bought lot there that night and sold it the
next morning, SO that he made 5000"
H.. .~~1.